Before and after? Hillary Clinton in 2006 and at last week's debate
Posted on 06/09/2007 8:24:36 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
Hillary Clinton's enemies have long criticised her political -makeover, from the liberal firebrand First Lady to the moderate senator and White House candidate that she is today.
Now, the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination is the subject of a whispering campaign suggesting that she has also undergone a physical makeover - with Botox injections to enhance her appearance.
Before and after? Hillary Clinton in 2006 and at last week's debate
Sen Clinton's fresh-faced demeanour at last weekend's New Hampshire presidential debate has unleashed a flurry of speculation, among newspaper columnists and on the internet, that she has used artificial means to banish the wrinkles.
The debate has revealed again the importance of appearance in the race for the White House, and the extra scrutiny that falls on Sen Clinton as the first woman with a realistic chance of becoming president.
Botox, derived from a lethal poison that forms in rancid sausages, is injected into the face - at $500 (£260) a shot - to eliminate wrinkles by paralysing the surrounding muscles. In 2004, John Kerry, the Democrat presidential nominee, was accused of using the substance to remove wrinkles from his forehead.
Last week Margery Eagan, a columnist with the Boston Herald, led the charge, describing Sen Clinton's "flawless, almost dewy" appearance during the debate. "The instant -Hillary appears, the woman behind me whispers, 'Oh look at Hillary. She's had work done.' " Miss Eagan wrote.
The newspaper also enlisted Jeffrey Dover, the treasurer of the American Society of Dermatologic Surgery, to point out how easy it is to have Botox. "Hillary could have left an event in Washington at nine o'clock, had all this done and been back on the campaign trail next morning," he said.
Meanwhile, Jon Keller of WBZ television, a leading political analyst, pronounced: "Botox - but it's time for Botox to win one," a reference to Sen Kerry's defeat three years ago.
Some guests on daytime television shows seemed reluctant to utter the "B" word, but Republicans were less restrained. David Blum of the conservative New York Sun referred to "Hillary Clinton, whose Botox injections have rendered her expression disconcertingly blank. (I miss her late-Nineties scowl.)"
A Democrat strategist, who is advising John Edwards, one of the party's rival contenders, said Mr Edwards and Sen Clinton have been targeted by Republicans seeking to emulate the aggressive personal attacks favoured by George Bush's political strategist Karl Rove.
Mr Edwards, who has made combating poverty an issue, has attracted derision since it emerged that his campaign twice paid for him to have a $400 haircut. One of the most popular videos on the YouTube website shows him brushing his hair to the tune of I Feel Pretty. "This is straight out of the Karl Rove playbook," the adviser said. "Republicans are shown to be rugged and resolute, and they paint Democrats as pampered and shallow. It was exactly the same in 2004, when people claimed that John Kerry shouldn't be president because he 'looked French'. These days they don't even have to do the dirty work - the blogosphere will do it for you."
Americans spend $12 billion a year on cosmetic surgery but the subject is still taboo for politicians even though one New York plastic surgeon, Cap Lesesne, says he has treated 18 such patients, including six senators, all of whom have sought to be treated in stages so as to deflect attention. "Politicians want to come away looking younger, better, healthier but with something that does not say they have had plastic surgery," he said.
Image has been a vital factor in American politics ever since Richard Nixon lost the 1960 election to John F Kennedy after appearing shifty to television viewers of their presidential debate because he wore no make-up and could be seen sweating under the lights. California's governor Arnold Schwarzenegger denied rumours during his 2003 campaign that he had had a face-lift.
Last autumn John Spencer, Sen Clinton's Republican opponent in the New York Senate race, alleged that she had had "millions of dollars of plastic surgery". Her spokesman was quick to say she had never had cosmetic surgery.
But the Clinton camp has not responded to the Botox claims. A spokesman declined to give a statement and did not reply to an email seeking clarification.
Embarrassingly for Sen Clinton, a new biography by Carl Bernstein, the Watergate reporter, records a catty comment that she once made about a female colleague - the Republican senator and former presidential candidate, Elizabeth Dole.
Bernstein writes: "Hillary said: 'Did you get a look at that face?' - a reference to her suspicion that the 66-year-old Mrs Dole had undergone plastic surgery. Hillary added: 'To think they all talk about my hair.' "
Oh, she's had extensive work done.
You can put lipstick on a pig...
Still looks ugly and sounds shrill.
Naaah, no surgery. She just produces it naturally.
Deceit now and forever.......
I really don’t care. What she really needs is a personality transplant among other things.
When you get right down to it, I don’t think she’s a natural blonde either so if she’s going to lie about her hair color, why shouldn’t she lie about everything else?
Nah, no botox there... just a visit to John Edwards day spa.
Well that explains it. The botox forms naturally on her surface.
She's been totally repaved!
BUMP
A fraud in every sense of the word.
One can only hope that the botulism strain is very strong.
You cannot tell by those side-by-side photos. Proper lighting and professional make-up can work wonders too. The first photo has bad shadows which cause wrinkles and blemishes to deepen.
Here we have a Stalin-wannabee. So we trash-talk her wrinkles or lack of same?
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